Local students found with e-cigarettes at school

JACKSON, Tenn. — School officials have a warning for parents. Children are bringing e-cigarettes to school.

“We have seen where students will have those Juuls mixed in with their flash drives, and it’s very hard to detect,” Corey Currie said. He is the leader for Student Support Services for the Jackson-Madison County School System.

If a student is caught with a Juul, school officials treat it like any other type of cigarette.

“At this time, policy is treating it as tobacco. And we are punishing, or discipline is based on just like having tobacco or cigarettes on campus,” Currie said.

Juuls can be used with flavored water vapor or tobacco products. Currie says most of the confiscated Juuls have been in violation of the district’s tobacco policy.

“In most cases, it’s not water, and the ones that we have, and the ones we’ve seen in our schools, have not been the water vapor. They have actually been the oils,” Currie said.

He says because of the type of chemicals in the oils, there is concern for how these e-cigarettes will affect a child.

“When you think about 13, 14, 15-year-olds and the fact that their brains haven’t developed and they’re now putting these chemicals into their bodies, we don’t know the long-term effects of that. However, I don’t see that it would be positive,” Currie said.

The products are sold at gas stations and grocery stores, as well as smoke shops.